This experience helped me develop the ability to feel comfortable working with other people.

Kylie is a senior at Grover Cleveland High School in Queens, New York. She attended a CFES College Explore Program at St. Michael’s College in Colchester, VT in July 2017.

The skills required for college are: teamwork, agility, leadership and grit. Not everyone knows how to develop them, but thank God I had the opportunity to live a new experience with CFES. I’ve been able to develop those skills in a totally different way because I had to interact with people that I’ve never seen before in my life. For a lot of people, including myself, this can be one of the scariest things to do. But I know that my future success is based on interacting with strangers every day. CFES, and going to College Explore, showed me that there’s no reason to be afraid and that everyone is afraid at first too. CFES told me and the other students to “get out of our comfort zones,” and we were able to trust each other and work together to do so. Not everyone has the chance to explore a college environment while in high school, or to face their fears and leave their comfort zone, but this experience helped me develop the ability to feel comfortable working with other people. Even though I was scared beforehand, I don’t regret going on College Explore because it was an amazing experience in a new environment where everyone wanted to see you succeed.

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